president obama arrives in the west bank against the backdrop of protests and rocket strikes from gaza into israel where he earlier reaffirmed washington's i'm grateful bonds would tell of eve. a bull in a china shop russia's prime minister. handling of the cypriot economic crisis in a cool welcome the brussels officials arrived in moscow attempting to calm the financial stall. and the syrian government in opposition both demand and international grobin to an alleged deadly chemical attack but both sides of blame on each other.

it's two pm here in the russian capital you live with us on our team with me tom would say four rockets have reportedly been fired from gaza into israel where u.s. president barack obama has been on his first foreign visit since relaxation the strikes they didn't prevent of the american leader from arriving in the west bank an hour ago where he's now meeting with the palestinian leadership all correspondent policia is there and brings a small on what preceded the visit. there were four rockets that were fired from the northern gaza and town of beit hanoun as israel two landed inside gaza but one landed in the back yard of a residential home in the southern israeli town of store wat now there were no injuries although there was some damage to the back yard this coming on the second day of the american president barack obama's visit to the region and just hours before he will arrive here in the palestinian city of ramallah so he obama so far

is speaking primarily to the israeli public and he admitted as much last night after he met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu he said that his goal is to talk to the israelis he's spoken about the importance of israeli security and he's also committed american financial assistance to israel particularly in terms of military programs beyond two thousand and seventeen when the current contracts expire now there's been very little mention so far of the palestinians of the peace process of the continued israeli settlement expansion and this is in stark contrast to the speech the president gave back in two thousand and nine in cairo when he said that one of his priorities in terms of his foreign policy was resolving the palestinian issue having said that though there is a lot of mistrust between obama and netanyahu there is a lot of areas and disagreement they certainly don't see eye to eye on the issue of iraq and here we have mystery on who continuing to call for a military strike while obama continues to say that all options are on the table

and that there is still time for diplomacy so certainly in this what we see is that despite the p.r. efforts there is no running away from the fact that in this one yahoo still holds firm to israeli commitment even if it means turning his back on his close allies we here in this clip as well can never see the road to different persons to others even to the greatest of our friends there's already been a handful of demonstrations against the american president here in the west bank and certainly today the police already now. are in full force on the streets there's a strong security presence and this isn't in anticipation of the thousands of people who are expected to come to the streets to protest against the american president president's arrival here the plan is for him to meet at the mccotter the palestinian headquarters you see behind me he'll be meeting with the palestinian president mahmoud abbas as well as the palestinian prime minister salam fayad no real information that we have at this stage in terms of what will be presented during those talks but we do think that the american president is likely to ask the

palestinian leadership to resume talks without preconditions now this is an israeli position the palestinian position is that there needs to be of attention nine hundred sixty seven borders that needs to be a halt in construction of settlements and in this respect the anticipation and at least the analysis on the ground is that obama is not going to push the israelis but rather push the palestinians to meet the israeli demands. that's going to the polls now of a double of men in jerusalem he is a member of the israeli parliament and the member from the. party line from jews jerusalem mr lippman i just want to start off with this chip of by president obama the reported rocket strikes from gaza show just how fragile the palestinian israeli truce is yet obama has visited to israel focus mainly on syria and iran while the conflict on israel's old dull step is not being addressed why is that

well first of all i think that a major purpose of the visit actually relates to connecting to the israeli people and reaffirming that relationship where there's been some concerns over the last few years and the president is absolutely succeeding in doing that you can feel it in the street and that's a very important to the other issues there's no doubt that there's been a halt over the last few years in terms of any progress on the israeli palestinian front there's a new. it's with a commitment to clear my party's commitment to move forward negotiations i think the president wants to give the government a chance to get itself together the ministers were just warning this past week and the president understands that to put pressure at the moment to jump things while he's here would be a mistake just in terms of giving us the chance but we are committed as a government to get back to negotiations and to hopefully move forward with the process but a one may just look let's just say president obama four years ago before his second

term he didn't make a stop by in israel and now it's almost like he's turning back starting afresh wanting to save my two thousand and nine guess of what i said when i was on arab land now i have to come back to israel and kind of redeem myself it almost a sort of looks like that because he really didn't touch on much really is this a p.r. stunt if you look at even the content of his speech when he. if you look at the content of his speech when he arrived and he talked about our historical to our ties to the land returning after thousands of years that's very important for the israeli people to hear we are a people that are committed to making peace with our neighbors and even with the palestinians but it was an area of concern and we felt that somehow there was this image being portrayed of us coming out to a land of which we have no historical ties to so i was very i don't think i believe the president really understands that sincerely and that's very important for the israeli people to hear and he's in a position where he's trying to reach out to both people to get us started on the

path to or towards peace and at least getting the process jump started again and a very important part of that was reaffirming that connection that we have to our land and to the alliance and the friendship between our two countries once that's in place i do believe because of the president's lead on many issues including the palestinian issue and the other issues you touched on including iran so would you say that obama and prime minister have managed to calm their personal dislike disagreements that you know that have been piling up all these years and president obama has been in office it's difficult for me to comment about personal issues between two leaders but i think that both are beyond that and the more important statement they had to be made was the commitment of each country to each other and not a lawyer which goes far beyond budgets and military strategy and it goes to the core of who we are as a people i certainly as

a person who grew up in the united states and now live in israel in the parliament here see the importance of that and i think the president is doing a wonderful job in terms of reaffirming that and if that's the one concrete result of this visit that has major ramifications for all the other issues so it should be viewed as something which is it significant it is very significant moving forward both the palestinian fraud and the iranian or for that any other challenges which face both. he did to other the president did speak a lot about the united states and israel sharing the same concerns and having the same approach to both iran and its a guinea a partner syria so on iran obama said the options are on the table how far do you think he'll go in supporting israel if it doesn't strike iran i personally do believe what the president what he says that all options are on the table and that he has israel's back i do also understand the prime minister at any

private or third israel where the right wing or left wing obviously has to understand that all options are on the table if it comes down to a situation where they assess that israel's security is at risk i think that the best that we can do at this point is to try to work together with the united states that certainly our party has an interest and again we are a bigger player in the new government with the second largest party and that if we get to a point where somehow the intelligence is a disagreement we'll have to figure out how to act right now and that both sides understand that the best approach would be for israel to work together with international community it's right to resolve the crisis but like i said israel cannot possibly living with the early read on our doorstep and all options have to be on the table for us as well since a very delicate balance but right now we're trying to strengthen that a lawyer for united states and the rest of the international community in terms of how to move forward i have to say you make solid to the coalition going to work together far more simpler than most of us a tis

a painting seeing how you're going to work with prime minister netanyahu and of course of the u.s. but thank you for your time doug lipman knesset member from the yes a team aponte live from jerusalem with us. right and as always well we want to hear your views on of the stories we covered today at all online poll we're asking what do you use the as the real agenda behind president obama's visit so let's take a look at how opinions is a divided so far and overwhelming majority things is just a p.r. stunt of from the white house that will bring no real change and just over of the believe obama is there to win some time for diplomacy and to keep israel from striking iran ten percent sale bamma is cozying up to israel and should have given more time and to palestine and just of four percent believe the us president really is determined to revive the peace process now if you want to culture vertigo to

r.t. dot com and do just that big talks over a tiny country moscow has become the focal point in efforts to solve the cyprus debt crisis if in the russian capital joining the supra to finance minister the struggling euro zone state is running out of time to avoid bankruptcy after its parliament rejected the preconditions for an e.u. loan for more on this i let's go across a live to our correspondent you've got a piece called of here got it's you know have any details emerge of following the talks in moscow. well the superior finance minister has explained that the country is not asking russia for a new loan but for investment in exchange for shares in its banking and energy sector the minister has been negotiating with russian officials in moscow for the past couple of days he said that no official proposal has been made so far but he stressed that he's not leaving the russian capital until an agreement is reached in

the meantime several senior u.s. officials are currently also iraqi capital including the head of the european commission joins them and all the rosell also discussing the crisis in a sizer earlier russia's prime minister to the media that's a really strong words to say about the situation not just coming but a great deal of the things so far the e.u. together with the cyprus parliament have unfortunately acted like a bull in a china shop i think all possible mistakes which could have been made in this situation have been made slow enough bustled middle of. the prime minister didn't stop there if your thought compared to the approach with which european union officials are dealing with the private bank accounts to how suck it up what he's dealt with the private funds of soviet citizens meaning expropriation of private property and now earlier the problems of cyprus rejected to the european union's

bailout plan which included introducing a tax for private bank accounts in the country and cyprus is still on the verge of bankruptcy it's expected that it's parliament on thursday should discuss and actually bolt the end of the day on an alternative plan to try to get out of the crisis which may include tapping into the country's social funds including the retirement fund to collect some additional cash but time is running out for the country and its president said that a decision must be made before the end of the day. thank you very much authorities you got a piece going off reporting from moscow keeping us updated on those assigned talks with the finance minister in moscow. the european central bank is increasing the pressure on the prison warning it will cut the country's funding starting from next week if no. rescue plan is agreed meanwhile banks are still paralyzed across the country amid a widespread public anxiety over the deadlock. reports. we're hearing we can

see here in cyprus where the central bank had announced that the banks will be closed until at least next week and until politicians figure out a way to get cyprus out of this predicament that it's in whether it gets help from the e.u. from russia or another source that is still what the politicians are trying to scramble to put together in the meantime you have residents trying to get some money from their cash machines now we've talked to some of them and they say they were still able to get some cash although the amount has gone down from let's say four hundred to two hundred euros now each time they take some money and the problem really comes when we talk to some of the shopkeepers there simply is no cash flow they have no change to give to some of their customers or there's simply no one going into their shop everybody they haven't. and. and i would talk to some of the citizens asking

them what they think should be a solution for their country there's really a lot of uncertainty a lot of doubt on what that answer could be and a lot of distrust as well when it comes to their partners in europe they felt that they had been cornered into a position where they have to accept something rather difficult for the country as well as for the people but in the meantime all they can do now really is try to get as much cash hold on to as much as they can at least until banks reopen whenever that may be. coming up later this hour paula as and a hopeless condition of guantanamo bay prison. as they continue their hunger strike with the first official reaction coming up more than a month. old . technology. developments around.

we are facing a lot of problems. because know what opera drink. meant when you lose out for. other local what's national television while in the local needs you want to community l.n.g. motion will be used just sure he's. done for a match up artist i was fired i must fight. fight. fight all right.

welcome back here you're watching our team syria's government and rebels are by is demanding an international probe into an alleged deadly chemical attack they've traded accusations as to who was behind the a sold near the northern city of aleppo they killed up to thirty one people and wounded dozens of others arches arena going to is following the developments. reports that chemical weapons have been used in the. area of the aleppo province this is are not clear at the moment people were rushed to hospital after the attack few had visible wounds to their bodies but some of them were clearly suffering from some breathing difficulties now that seems of the assaults were saying that they saw other people falling to the floor dying witnesses have confirmed to r.t. that people have been suffering from effects of what seems to be some sort of guess . who could. you hear.

where you're. over. now who could be behind this attack both assad's forces and rebels are pointing the finger of blame at each other but the rockets reportedly fell in areas controlled by the government the syrian rebels have long tried to overrun the weapons plant located in the very same area you can see it on the map right there aleppo and then also fear that is the place where some of the country's chemical stockpile is said to be stored in fact the syrian government said in december that rebel forces plundered supplied of chlorine gas and some time ago this video was posted online showing animals purportedly being killed with chemicals those behind this footage affiliated themselves with assad's opponents and threaten to do the same with those who support the syrian president yet all of this evidence doesn't seem to convince president obama deeply skeptical. in fact it was the

opposition that used chemical weapons and interesting use of the word skeptical with the stakes being so high one of the biggest concerns for all is this an area where syria's chemical arsenal falls into the hands of extremists fighters among opposition forces as history has shown there are examples when fighters supported by the west have eventually turned their arms against their backers now let's for just a moment imagine that extremists among the rebel fighters could get hold of chemical weapons how bad could the longer the attacks for example of two thousand and five have been if that was the case we've already seen images of a chemical attack on a subway in a huge city in one thousand nine hundred five in tokyo by religious sect now imagine a similar scenario but staged by people who work throughout the conflict in syria initially supported by the west. a top u.s. general says the hunger strike among guantanamo bay prisoners is their frustration with the government's failure to close

a facility in rejecting reports it's over mistreatment and the desecration of the koran the number of which is the prince of knowledge by the pentagon has now risen to twenty five detainees lawyers maintain it's more than one hundred r.t.s. damage again brings us the latest. what we see here is a small protest in front of the white house one told him all had been out of the media spotlight for a while now you don't see much coverage on major u.s. news channels even with the hunger strike going on there right now so these people are trying to draw attention to the detainees more than fifty lawyers representing the president sent a letter to defense secretary chuck hagel urging him to help in that letter they said the participants health had deteriorated alarmingly and that some had lost more than twenty or thirty pounds that is nine to fourteen kilograms medical experts say by day forty five participants can experience potential blindness and potential loss of hearing so what prompted these people to resort to such a desperate move. on if you were the case. those men would tell their

attorney basically i don't want to talk with your what's the point of talking with you i don't want to know the date i'm going to get out of here but there is no date all. being completely oh oh oh many of the detainees have come to believe and this is what they say we heard this from their lawyers that the only way out of guantanamo for them is in a coffin in january a state department shut down the office that was working to close guantanamo more than half of those detainees are sitting there with papers from the u.s. clearing them for relief yet with no hope that they're ever going to be free again the officials are certainly trying to downplay the hunger strike but they're pressed for answers and they sure know what's going on and what cost the strike in the first place marine corps general john kelly and it's his command that oversees guantanamo he was testifying in congress this wednesday he said the prisoners have launched a hunger strike because they're frustrated take a listen they had great optimism that guantanamo would be closed they were

devastated when the president did you know backed off at least their perception of closing the facility that has caused them to become frustrated and they want to get this thing turned you don't get it back in the media. on our part will continue to press officials for answers as the strike continues and involves more people in washington i'm going to check out. while the mainstream media plays a down place on the is u r g has been following the story from the beginning we've got a timeline of events on our web site where we've also gathered comments by the un prison officials detainees lawyers and activists to give you a full picture of what's going on had to r.t. dot com for that and here's what else you'll find a while you're all mine the voyager spacecraft and me have just become the first man made object to exit of the solar system why don't all the details online plus. meter the road into that hole was what caused yet another meltdown at japan's of

lucas human nuclear plant find out how close the country came to disaster all because of one rat knowing a few wires more that at argy dot com. is a lead group of u.k. world war two veterans have been awarded by prime minister david cameron for this service during the arctic convoys the convoys abroad as applies to the soviet union in the fight against nazi germany last year london was criticized for rejecting moscow's offer to grant the british veterans a special award and as poorly boyko reports are feelings of gratitude with sadness and anger. a quarter of a million men took part in the arctic convoys over seventy years ago sadly today just a handful of those brave men still survived after decades of campaigning the case that convoy veterans are at downing street to pick up their new limited medals but

launch a lot of projects will be worth a long. bridge been a wonderful day long time coming i tried to center on one will be a sadness as zero or more ship night has crossed the bow on fulton to die during the war ninety two year old vic bashford served in the royal air force as an electrical engineer he was part of a secret operation that traveled on board the first arctic convoy to russia back in one thousand nine hundred forty one stalin was urging mr you to start a second front to go back into the frog to the pressure. on the russians. we were certain you some arab allies knew the way the flow of them so move them into buying time. to chew a moost unusual reporting so that's where we kind to be in russia during

world war two british ships transported around four million tons of supplies food and munitions for the save the union more than three thousand sailors didn't survive the journey by subzero temperatures and german air raids were a fact of life almost normal on the rig on the water but. the squash of. a much much smaller groups from of course die off to die off to die yes yes it can be a bit from. last year the british government came under fire for blocking veterans from receiving us. special commemorative award from the russian government that medal was to be awarded as a symbol of gratitude for all that british veterans did to help the soviet union during the darkest days of the war and we now know we went through. yet despite the opposition of m.p.'s the foreign office blocked the move saying the fight against

nazi germany happened too long ago for the men to be recognized effectively leaving some veterans to die without recognition for their service and the thanks they deserved i think it's disgraceful absolutely disgraceful that. we were not the commode rooms. are those that ruined the american. dollar though been a war movie except one of us normally you know the russians he was with us so this arctic star is. a little bit of a. soft. you know. not with the pride that. the russians. for those who braved the arctic waters and so that country will those years ago it's a day of celebration shaking hands with the prime minister followed by

a reception on the h.m.s. belfast with that arctic stars in tow but for many it's a celebration that's left a bitter aftertaste for the owner that's come too late for those who could still wear it. artsy london i had put him on every day life in a rugged decade after the u.s. led forces invaded the country to do post saddam hussein. jorge rios an argentinian student and seventeen other similar students from foreign countries all paid a private company between three thousand and four thousand dollars so they get to take part in a u.s.

state department work study program he was promised forty hours of work per week at a common fast food restaurant with a decent salary but the reality he claims was quite different he was actually only given around four hours of work per week what was expected to be on call twenty four seven like a surgery i guess in case of some burger emergency he says he was forced to live in accommodations that were provided by the restaurant real six plane that he had to sleep in a child size bunk bed in a basement with seven other people in filthy conditions and for this service he had to pay the restaurant three hundred dollars a month overall real swallowed up paying the burger joint to work for them what a way to not make a living though this story sounds funny on the surface. many foreigners in work and study and work in travel programs do experience exploitation upon arrival in the usa i've even personally met some of them so i know but more than that in a time when millions of americans are struggling to put food on the kitchen table why are companies searching for thousands of exploitable foreigners to work for two

dollars an hour cheaper it is corporate greed and their absolute disrespect for americans that allows this to happen just pay the extra two dollars and have americans work for you get cheap corporate pigs but that's just my opinion. on the route to best where this morning the u.s. army is beginning to withdrawal from iraq.